Joshua Fishman - July 13, 1982
Sharing Story
When you, when you first came to uh, to America did you talk about your experiences in the war? Did you talk about, you know, what, what--some of the things you told me about?
Uh, not too many people want to hear that. People think uh, they, they, they are afraid it's going to hurt their health.
Wife: His uncle.
My uncle, others. Unfortunately, which is...
You know that's changing now, of course.
It's changing, yeah, I know. It's different but still you find among the, among the, oh, my generation and even younger than me, still their not too receptive to hear those things so I found out it's better not to talk unless I'm asked. I had a customer whom I tuned a piano for a couple years ago. She said she likes to read those books about the Holocaust and she--sometimes at night she can't sleep and, "My husband tells me not to do it, what is your opinion?" I said, "I know it hurts but everybody has to know about it. You have to know, you have to tell your children, children should tell their children. These things should not be forgotten because even in this gener...in our generation there are already some uh, some people--those anti-Semites that say, "It didn't happen. They didn't kill six million Jews." You know about that. You heard it, didn't you?
Sure, that's why we're doing this.
When we were in Israel we went to the, uh...
Wife: Yad Vashem.
Yad Vashem. We took the--there were some forms to fill out and I filled out the form about my family. And I know many--even of the survivors that didn't do it. One of my uncles, one of my uncles--both of the uncles in Israel, they didn't do it either. Maybe I should speak to other uncle, he would do it maybe. The younger one didn't want to do it at that time. He didn't have time. He was busy. This was uh, I can, I can say this: those Jewish people who did not live through that, that by themselves, who were in Russia all during the German occupation, all during the time of the German occupation they don't have the same, the same feel for it. Even though they know that everything happened, it's true. Their families got, their families got, got killed and everything but they don't have the same feelings those--as most of those who lived through by themselves. I can, I can say even that all who lived through still want to think about it. Some--there are some of those that don't want to talk about it, don't want to think about it but it's wrong.
Do you think about it a lot?
Can't forget it.
Wife: He screams, too, at night. My mama used to scream, "Please, they're coming to pick you up." She used to have uh, my mother was obsessed with us. She always used to have a nightmare ??? so I wake him up ??? they went to the concentration camps.
Are there, are there times when it interferes with your life now?
No. As far as that, as far as that goes my uh, it doesn't interfere with my life at all.
Do you feel you suffered any psychological problems with this?
Uh, at one time uh, I, I was for a few weeks but it disappeared.
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